


Stamen and Pistil

by Shriek



Series: Blossoming 'verse [2]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Genderfluid Mollymauk Tealeaf, M/M, Other, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-06
Updated: 2019-01-06
Packaged: 2019-10-05 11:29:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17324204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shriek/pseuds/Shriek
Summary: Caleb asks Molly about one of his tattoos, and gets a little bit of insight into who the peacock of a tiefling really is.





	Stamen and Pistil

**Author's Note:**

> By popular request, the scene I hadn't even considered until AFTER I finished Blossoming! I had no idea what the tattoo meant, you guys. But apparently it's this! (Disclaimer: Everyone's experience of gender is different and there is no right or wrong way to be any gender.)

Caleb is very drunk. He is very drunk, Molly is very warm, and his tattoos are very beautiful. These are the excuses Caleb gives himself for why he hasn't gotten up and left like he usually does when he and Molly have finished having sex. Instead, he's lying with his head pillowed on Molly's stomach, tracing his fingers across the orange flower that rests over Molly's right hip.

“It's a good thing I'm not ticklish,” Molly says, which makes Caleb remember himself and start to pull away. “No, don't stop.” He takes Caleb's hand and presses it onto the tattoo.

They've been over this. If Molly doesn't like something Caleb is doing, he'll ask him to stop. Otherwise, Caleb has permission to touch as much as he likes. Usually Caleb tries not to take advantage of that permission, to not be too greedy with it, but… He _is_ very drunk. He runs his fingers along the edge of one of the petals, lifting himself up on one elbow to get a better look.

“Does this have any special meaning?”

“They all have special meaning. They mean I'm claiming this body as my own, no one else's. But actually, yes. This one does mean something more.”

Caleb looks up at Molly's face, trying to focus through the haze of alcohol to read his expression.

“Will you tell me?”

“Of course.”

That seems like an odd response, considering how reluctant Molly has been to talk about his past before, but Caleb's curious, so he takes it. Maybe Molly will just make something up, but Caleb doesn't think he would mind all that much. Molly can tell some very pretty lies.

“This was the first tattoo I got that wasn't just to cover up one of those damned eyes, for starters.”

Caleb has seen the eyes, red and glaring across various parts of Molly's body. His mind has catalogued all nine of them automatically, spun endless theories about the reason for their existence, but he doesn't bring it up. Molly clearly doesn't like talking about them, and Caleb knows when to leave well enough alone.

“We were in… oh gods, I forget the name of the town. But there was this little girl selling these big orange flowers --they’re called…”

“Hibiscus.”

“Yes, hibiscus! Of course you'd know that. Anyway. You know Yasha has her thing for flowers, so I thought I'd buy her one. So I do, and the little girl takes my money and says, 'I like your jewelry, ma'am.’ And well, I'd never been called ma'am before. But I said thank you and went on my way. And Yasha loved the flower, of course. But it stuck with me, that ma'am. I kept thinking, do I look like a ma'am? Why? Is it the jewelry? The hair? And I like my jewelry, and my hair, I picked it all very specifically because I liked the way it looked. The way it made me feel. So I wondered, if I like feminine things, and I look feminine enough that I can be mistaken for a woman, who's to say I'm not one? And of course a lot of people would say that this--” Molly gestures at his crotch, nearly hitting Caleb in the face. “--is the deciding factor, but I'm not exactly going to go around flashing my genitals at children to correct them, you know? And I just kept thinking, well, I basically created my entire self from scratch. I sprang into the world fully formed and decided who I was going to be as I went along. My body is just… It's like a potion vial. The potion is still the potion no matter what you put it in, right? I would still be me, I'd still be Molly, even if I somehow woke up in your body, or say, Jester's. So if I decided everything else about who I am, doesn't that mean I should get to decide my gender too? And I liked the idea of being a woman. But I liked the idea of being a man too. So I decided I may as well be both. Or neither. Or a mixture of the two, if the mood suits me. This is a reminder of that,” Molly says, tapping the tattoo. “That I can be a ma'am if I want to be. That my gender belongs to me just as much as my body does.”

Caleb stares at the tattoo, trying to process what Molly has just told him.

“Does that make sense?” Molly asks, sounding uncharacteristically nervous.

“I think so. I have not thought much about that sort of thing.”

“Most people don't, I think. But I suppose I'm not most people.”

Caleb brushes his thumb over the flower. “I like that about you.”


End file.
